Friends rally round Mashrafe as Bangladesh head for Taunton

TWO COLLEAGUES have spoken up in favour of Bangladesh Cricket Team Captain Mashrafe and told his critics to lay off him, as the team heads off to its next World Cup fixture – playing the West Indes in Taunton.

Bowler Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is going through a dry patch. His right arm fast paced deliveries have only brought the team one wicket in the last three matches. This has prompted a range of “armchair players” to try to have a pop – suggesting that Mashrafe be dropped to improve the team’s performance.

Team member and opener Tamim Iqbal has reminded the media that Mashrafe has made an invaluable contribution to top level cricket in Bangladesh for over a decade and should receive due respect. Iqbal warned that even when he is not doing so well on the field, Mashrafe spurs the team on with his informed leadership.

Team manager Khaled Mahmud also pitched in to support the captain, saying how disappointed he was that a bad patch of bowling was being blown up out of all proportion. Mahmud pointed out that other bowlers have gone through difficult spells – and that if they bowl against on-form batsmen, their figures can be less good than their performance deserves.

•As Bangladesh acclimatised to Taunton, the match between India and Pakistan was rained off – with a victory by 89 runs being awarded to India.

•Read more about it:
Kiwis trounce the Tigers by a smidgeon
Scintilla hit number one